10 Comic Book Story Arcs EVERYONE Hated

2. One More Day

Secret Empire
Marvel Comics

When the Kingpin learned of Spider-Man's identity during the Civil War event, he hired an assassin to shoot Peter Parker's Aunt May. Left gravelly wounded, Peter made a deal with the lord of hell, Mephisto, to spare her life.

The demon promised to create a new reality where May lives but only at the cost of Peter's marriage with Mary-Jane Watson, with Mephisto also promising to erase Spidey's unmasking in Civil War from reality.

Defying common sense, Peter and MJ agreed to these terms. Readers loathed this storyline as it unravelled Peter and Mary-Jane's marriage reversing decades of continuity in an instant.

What makes this story worse is that Marvel could've undone it. In the storyline, One Moment in Time, it is finally explained what happened in the new reality that prevented Peter and MJ's marriage. It turns out Peter failed to show up at his wedding because... a criminal fell on him and knocked him out.

It's also explained in One Moment in Time that Peter saved May's life simply by performing CPR despite the fact every medical expert (including Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom) said reviving her was impossible.

One Moment in Time could have taken the sting off One More Day but it ended up making a reviled story even worse.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows